


Out with the Old, in with the New

by GotMyInkPen



Series: Sole Heir [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Bonding, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hopefully it's a bit funny, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I don't think there's an official tag for that, If You Squint - Freeform, Irondad, Light Angst, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Heir, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Precious Peter Parker, Self-Doubt, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 02:42:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17337185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GotMyInkPen/pseuds/GotMyInkPen
Summary: “Well kid, you can add as much flair as you want once I’ve kicked the bucket and handed over the reins to your weirdly sticky hands.”A pencil clatters and rolls on to the ground. Tony takes little notice of it while Peter audibly gulps.“Um. Handing over the reins of – uh – what exactly?”“Stark Industries,” Tony replies casually.“Stark Industries!?” Peter repeats incredulously.“Yeah,” Tony confirms, looking back over to shoot a small smile at Peter’s frazzled face, “Stark Industries.”(OR, Peter insults the Stark Industries branding and Tony tells him he's the heir to Stark Industries. Fluff and Bonding™ occurs.)





	Out with the Old, in with the New

“I think it’d be cooler if the Stark Industries logo _wasn’t_ grey.”

“First off, I resent that. It’s silver not grey. And secondly, where is this coming from?”

Peter leans closer into Tony’s personal space and further away from his Spanish homework. He’d abandoned it long ago in favour of watching his mentor fiddle with an Iron Man gauntlet because that was infinitely more awesome than subjunctive tense.

“I don’t know,” he says, breath hitting Tony’s face who swivels his head subtly away, “I was just looking at the logo before I walked in here and I thought it was kinda… bland.”

Tony doesn’t look up from his work, “bland?” he repeats.

“Yeah, bland,” Peter confirms, “Like, for a brand called Stark Industries, the branding colours aren’t really – well – _stark._ ”

“Sometimes the logo’s black or white,” Tony huffs in defence, “Is that _‘stark’_ enough for you?”

Peter groans with far too much indignation for a topic so minor and shoves his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table.

“That’s just as boring,” he complains through his palms.

Tony snatches a screwdriver from in between Peter’s arms and shrugs, “Well, I like it. And for the record, my taste is regarded as being impeccable by many.”

Peter pulls his face off his hands and glances at Tony.

“No, I get it Mister Stark. It’s all monochrome and grey like an old person’s hair but I just— ”

“Uh,” Tony says, finally looking up from his work to point his screwdriver at the bewildered and pale face of Peter, “Want to run that last part by me again?”

“Nope,” Peter drops his arms to his sides and takes a few steps back so he is securely out of Tony’s personal space once more, “Absolutely not. What last part? I don’t know any last part. Stark Industries branding is great. Really classic – or,” Peter quickly adds at the sight of Tony’s raised eyebrow, “ _classy._ Yeah, definitely um, really classy.”

Tony nods and turns back to his tinkering, “Great. Glad you think so.”

“Ditto,” Peter squeaks, shooting rather weak finger guns Tony’s way before shoving his nose back into the still open Spanish textbook, cheeks a faint pink.

A comfortable silence encases the duo as they work on their respective projects. When Tony had first allowed these little shindigs – him playing around with some technology in his lab while Peter sat nearby, either fixing broken Spider-Man gear or catching up on overdue homework – he’d found Peter’s incessantly tapping fingers annoying. The kid was constantly drumming out a rhythm while they worked, and if both hands were otherwise occupied a foot was always free to resume the tapping. Eventually he’d gotten used to it. And now, listening to the kid who was a ball of restless nerves and infectious energy, mindlessly drum out a nameless beat, Tony feels himself relax. He happily gets lost in his work and welcomes the feeling of much appreciated company.

“Okay, but have you ever considered _red and gold_ instead of— ”

“Jes- kid,” Tony turns away from his work again and stares half-assed daggers at Peter. His jaw clenches involuntarily.

Peter looks back at him, a hand up and holding a chewed pencil frozen midway through an elaborate gesture, his head barely tilted. The kid’s eyes widen as he tries (and fails) to gage how much trouble he’s in for bringing up the conversation again. A fast-paced beat is still being drummed along the table with nervous fingers.

Tony sighs and drops his screwdriver, massaging his temples with a of couple fingers.

“Fine, I’ll humour you. Those are the Iron Man colours. Why the hell would I use Iron Man colours for Stark Industries?”

Peter’s shoulders sag in relief and casts a sheepishly triumphant smile Tony’s way.

“Because brand association,” he says simply, his drumming hand moving up into the air to wave around wildly with the other, “Plus, wouldn’t it be cool if the Stark Industries logo was gold with a red outline? Wouldn’t that look sick?”

“Sick?” Tony repeats.

“Yeah, sick,” Peter confirms.

An unexpected laugh makes its way out of Tony and he shakes his head in disbelief. This kid.

“I don’t think Iron Man and Stark Industries have problems being associated with one another Pete. I’m kind of the connecting branch there and I can assure I work much better than matching colours.”

Peter leans forward so he’s in Tony’s space again and squints at him with judgemental eyes. Tony predictably stands his ground. Eventually, Peter draws back, giving a resigned shrug.

“Whatever. I’m just saying I would put more colour into the brand. It would add some extra flair.”

Tony picks up his screwdriver again and pulls a couple more wires out of his gauntlet.

“Well kid, you can add as much flair as you want once I’ve kicked the bucket and handed over the reins to your weirdly sticky hands.”

A pencil clatters and rolls on to the ground. Tony takes little notice of it while Peter audibly gulps.

“Um. Handing over the reins of – uh – _what_ exactly?”

“Stark Industries,” Tony replies casually.

“Stark Industries!?” Peter repeats incredulously.

“Yeah,” Tony confirms, looking back over to shoot a small smile at Peter’s frazzled face, “Stark Industries.”

Peter’s big brown eyes are blown comically wide, his jaw is slack and his mouth opens to form a rather tentative ‘O’.

“Y-you mean,” he pauses to swallow his rapidly drying mouth, “th-that I’m like an – or your… heir?”

“Sole heir,” Tony corrects

Peter flaps his hands and squawks, “Sole heir!? Like, the only one?”

Tony nods, “Right. That’s what the word ‘sole’ tends to mean. Well, unless you’re referring to the bottom of a shoe but that wouldn’t have made sense in this conte— ”

“B-but why me? I thought you’d give company to… I-I don’t know. A relative of Miss Potts or— ”

“Kid, did you seriously think I’d leave my fortune 500 company to Pepper’s estranged cousin from Arkansas with kleptomaniac tendencies?”

“I don’t know! Just someone who wasn’t me,” Peter laminates.

“No, kid,” Tony says softly, bridging the gap between them and placing a hand on one of Peter’s narrow shoulders, “You’re it. I decided that a while ago, Pepper enthusiastically agreed a couple months later. Even May was present and helped me sign it into my Will. You’re the future kid. You’re _my_ future.”

The shock that stuck to Peter’s face melts away and reveals something softer, a facial expression Tony can’t quite place.

“Oh. Wow Mister Stark. That is really – this is really…” he trails off and mumbles in barely a whisper, “Unexpected.”

“What?” Tony exclaims, shaking Peter’s shoulder lightly, “I thought you knew. How didn’t you know?”

“Nobody told me!” the frivolous panic sneaking back into Peter’s voice.

Tony scoffs but his smile remains, “I didn’t think we needed to! Why did you think I introduced you to all the HOD’s and let you sit in on board meetings? Or why May was letting you come on business trips with me out of State?”

“I-I don’t know!” Peter cries, “I just thought you guys were being super nice! I didn’t actually think you were preparing me for running all of…” he indicates to their surroundings with both hands, “ _this._ ”

Tony’s smile falters, “Wait. Do you want… _this_?”

“What?”

“I mean,” he retracts his hand from Peter’s shoulder, “We don’t want to force you into anything.”

“What?” Peter says again and stares with panicked confusion at his mentor, “Of course I want this! It’d be awesome to have this eventually.”

Tony smiles, relieved, and pats Peter on the back, “Great. Then what’s the problem?”

Peter’s face softens again. He clears his throat and looks down at the floor as one of his hands find the table again to resume tapping. Peter opens his mouth a couple times but always closes it in favour of chewing at his bottom lip. Once again, the two of them are engulfed in that quiet they are both now so familiar with, though this time it feels charged with a different energy.

“I-I just… well,” Peter begins eventually, eyes still firmly stuck to his feet, “Do you think I could handle… _this_? I mean, do you think I would be good at running all of this?”

Tony sighs and wraps an arm around Peter, pulling him close to his side, “Pete, you’re not just going to be good at _this_ , you’re going to be great at this. You’re a smart, talented, amazing kid with great ideas practically spilling out of that head of yours. If I didn’t think you could handle this, I wouldn’t have said it.”

Peter looks back up at him, sniffing discreetly, “Thanks Mister Stark,” he says with a thin but genuine smile, “For what you just said, and for _this,_ and for… everything.”

Tony squeezes Peter tight one last time, “Don’t sweat it kid.”

They stay like that for a while, Tony’s arm wrapped around the kid as Peter stares wonderingly around him. He doesn’t tap his fingers or his feet and Tony finds himself missing it. The silence just doesn’t feel like _their_ silence without it. Eventually, he lets go of Peter and grabs his screwdriver.

“And who knows,” Tony continues, staring back at his gauntlet as he tries to pick up where he left off, “Maybe you’ll eventually be better than me.”

“Better than you?” Peter repeats.

“ _Eventually_ better than me,” Tony both confirms and corrects, “You’ve still got a long way to go and a lot to learn before that.”

“Like what?” Peter asks eagerly, rocking on the balls of his feet.

“Well, for starters, you could get back to learning Spanish. Being bilingual comes in handy when you’re running an international company.”

Peter snorts, “You don’t know Spanish.”

Tony pauses and looks back at Peter, a single eyebrow raised.

“¿Estás seguro de eso?”

Peter pales slightly, “No, señor.”

Tony smirks and reaches out to ruffle the kid’s curls, “That’s what I thought."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I do not know any Spanish. Whoops.
> 
> I had no business writing this. I have a chaptered fic to write and finish. But here you go. I wrote this. Because Peter Parker needs some wholesome love and good news in his life, damn it!
> 
> And yes, this fic is 100% named after "Fabulous" from HSM 2. Sharpay Evans is an icon. Sue me.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you liked it. Kudos and comments are always appreciated!!


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